Manuel de Almeida / Lusa
Maria Lúcia Amaral, Minister of Internal Affairs
Maria Lúcia Amaral gives justifications, admits irreversible repercussions and ensures that she does not go to the ground under these circumstances.
The situation of alert due to the aggravated risk of fire was extended until domingo, announced this Thursday the Minister of Internal Affairs, Maria Lúcia Amaralafter a visit to the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (Anepc).
“Given the adversity of 22 consecutive days of intense heat not giving signs to slow down, the government will extend once again the situation of warning, until Sunday,” the minister in statements to journalists. Maria Lúcia Amaral stressed that all restrictions and prohibitions imposed by the aggravated risk alert of fire are maintained.
The minister pointed out that “tomorrow (today, Friday) as conditions will be particularly adverse And precisely for that, we decided to keep the warning situation by the end of Sunday. ”
The ruler began by expressing her solidarity and that of the government towards the populations and mayors of the affected regions “before this calamity, This intense adversity of “22 consecutive days of an uninterrupted heat wave”.
Maria Lúcia Amaral considered that the fires that have affected the country will have “Irreversible repercussions in the lives of populations. ”
The minister also left “a word of gratitude” All interveners in the fight against fire, namely firefighters, civil protection, sappers, security forces, mayors and population, highlighting the “tiredness and exhaustion” of those who have been so many days on the ground to fight the fireworks. “Despite tiredness and exhaustion, it is necessary to maintain surveillance and struggle” by populations and authorities to avoid new situations, he warned, stating that “it is a combat of all.”
Confronted by journalists with complaints of mayors about lack of means, the ruler said he perceive and understand these concerns and criticisms, but that is on the ground “the largest device ever” in combating the strong fires that are plaguing the country.
“I understand very well all the appeals that the mayors have made, in the face of the dramatic nature of what we are living is more than understandable. Each mayor, each local power holder is directly responsible for their populations in their territories, so feel like no one else’s impotence and affliction that all causes,” he said.
The minister insisted that the country has “the largest device on the usual ground” and that the means on the ground show that “the country is responding (…) in a united way”, although it recognizes the possibility of some uncoordination on the ground.
“A Uncoordination… no one is immune to her. In an effort as large as this can occur and will occur inevitably, because everything is extraordinarily complex, ”said Maria Lúcia Amaral.
The ruler explained that still It wasn’t – nor go – to the ground because it does not want to “harm” the fight against fires. “From 2017, the doctrine (not going) was fixed. That’s why I haven’t been. We haven’t been, let’s not, in these circumstances.”
After, on Thursday, the secretary general of the PS, and former Minister of Internal Affairs, José Luís Carneiro to activate the situation of contingency To ensure all means available in combat, the minister rejected the need for practical reasons.
“What we have concluded so far is that the difference, which is a legal difference, From the outset of the Civil Protection Bases Law, between the situation of the alert and the contingency situation, it would only have the possibility of mobilizing more means, until the municipal level, which are now mobilized. In fact, the joint effort of all mayors. This is why in the practical level we do not feel the need to transform the nature of the decision, ”he said.
The Minister of Internal Affairs refused still consider dismiss Given the situation of forest fires that plagues the country, stating that it will not “betray the oath of loyalty” he did when he took office. “Two months ago I took an oath. It was an oath of loyalty. I will not cheat on the loyalty oath two months later, presenting my resignation or thinking of firing me,” said Maria Lúcia Amaral.
Portugal has been in warning due to the risk of fire since August 2 and in recent weeks have triggered several fires in the north and center of the country that have consumed more than half of about 75,000 hectares of burned area this year.
Orange warning
The Portuguese Institute of Sea and Atmosphere extended today until 18:00 on Sunday orange warning, The second most severe, in seven districts because of the heat.
According to an IPMA statement, the orange warning will be active in Bragança, Évora, Guarda, Faro, Beja, Castelo Branco and Portalegre Until 6:00 pm on Sunday, due to the “persistence of very high values of the maximum temperature”.
In Vila Real and Viseu, the orange warning is in force until 00:00 on Saturday, then lowering yellow, the least severe from a scale of three.
Also under yellow warning due to the heat are until 18:00 today the districts of Leiria and Coimbra, while Santarém lasts until 6:00 pm on Saturday and in Setúbal until 18:00 Sunday.
